There’s a common refrain that rappers want to be athletes and vice versa. There’s already a pretty strong intersection between sports and hip-hop anyway. At its core, both forms of entertainment root themselves in the spirit of competition. Moreover, there’s a ton of glory to be gained from both. Consequently, you’ll see artists like J. Cole and Master P chase their hoop dreams. Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson had their own lucrative musical careers. Damian Lillard is the most prominent modern-day example of these two paths crossing. Now, we can add Toosii to the illustrious list, too.
Recently, the New York-born, North Carolina-bred rapper announced on social media that he’s committed to Syracuse to play college football. Born in the city, he calls it a blessing, a dream come true, and gives credit to God. Moreover, given that he moved away at 12, it felt natural to return to his birthplace after meeting the team’s coach.
Rapper Toosii Chases His Football Dreams By Going Back Home to Syracuse
“For every kid who ever had a dream, make it reality. God’s will is the way and no one can stop it not even the devil. I wanna thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for even giving me the strength to chase what I believed when so many people told me I couldn’t. Thank you to the people who supported me as well, it never go unnoticed. To be born in Syracuse and move to North Carolina at age 12 and haven’t been back since. When Coach Fran called, I knew it was a sign from God. So with that being said, Cuse I’m coming home,” Toosii writes online.
This was something the “Favorite Song” rapper had been manifesting for some time, too. Back in August, he put it out into the universe that he was going to add some more hardware along with his platinum plaques. “I’m chasing history,” Toosi posted at the time with a video of him running drills. “First multi-platinum recording artist to go back to school and play DIVISION I football. Next year I’m gonna be on somebody’s team mark my words!”
We can only theorize why being an athlete is so appealing for rappers like Toosii. But Cam’ron and Mase made their arguments while talking to NFL legend Michael Irvin back in September. Mase claims it’s just a matter of taking advantage of opportunities. But Cam says there’s a bit more to it: athletes and rappers share a similar mindset of grinding, and hip-hop empowers sports stars to keep going.
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